Rail-joint.



A. COUTURE.

RAIL JOINT.-

APPLICATION HLED MAR. 10. 1917..

1 ,%&,332 Patented July 24,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. COUTURE.

RAIL JOINT.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10, 1917.

1 Z3&,682, Patented July 24, 1917.

a 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 w-fi Tl I ALEXANDRE COUTURE, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

RAIL-JOINT.

Application filed March 10, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDRE COUTURE, a citizen of France, and a resident of Baltimore, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device for holding rails and refers particularly to a device whereby the rails are held by means of wedgesbetween the rails and a supporting shell.

By employment of my device the use of bolts and nuts is entirely eliminated and the rails are held absolutely free from lateral and vertical movement, while allowing sufficient horizontal movement caused by changes of temperature. It is economical in production, strong in construction and certain in operation. It allows of the change of rails with a minimum expenditure of time and labor and is readily ap plied to all shapes of rails.

Modified forms of my device are illus trated in the accompanying drawings in which similar parts are designated by similar numerals.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of a device of my invention, partly broken away.

I Fig. 2 is an end view of Fig. 1 with parts assembled.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of Fig. 1 with parts assembled.

Fig. 4 is an end view of a modified form of a device of my invention.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of Fig. 7.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of the supporting shell.

Fig. 7 is an end view of the shell, of Fig. 6, with rail and sembled.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the wedges of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a perspective View of the other wedge of Fig. 7.

In the form of my device illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the rail supporting shell 10 comprises the two similar side members 11, 11, parallelto the rail web 25, and the bottom plate 12, of such a size and shape that the foot 13 of the rail will rest upon the bottom plate 12 and the head 14 of the rail will extend upwardly from between the side members 11, 11. The bottom plate 12 has the cut-outs 1 5, 15, 15, 15 for the insersupporting wedges as- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 24, 1913.

Serial No. 153,819.

tion of spikes 16, 16, to bind and hold the bottom plate 12 and the rail foot 13 to the cross-ties 17, 17. The bottom plate 12 also has the cut-outs 18, 18 for the insertion of spikes 19, 19 to hold the bottom plate 12 to the cross-tie 20. Upon the interior face of the bottom plate 12 and extending upwardly are the lugs 21, 21, 21, 21. These lugs 21, 21, 21, 21 extend through the openings 22, 22, 22, 22 of the rail foot 13, the openings 22, 22, 22, 22 being somewhat larger than the lugs 21, 21, 21, 21 to allow of slight horizontal movement of the rail on account of expansion or contraction due to variations of temperature.

Upon each side of the rail and slidably removable between the rail and the supporting shell 10 are two wedge shaped bin ling members 23 and 24. The binding member 23 bears upon the lower surface of the rail head 14, the surface of the rail web 25, a portion of the rail foot 13 adjacent to the rail web 25, and the upper inner portion of the side member 11 of the supporting shell 10, and extends over the top of the side member 11 of the supporting shell 10. The binding member 24 is slidab-le within the space formed by the binding member 23, the upper surface of rail foot 13 and the interior surface of the side mem ber 11 of the supporting shell 10. The wedges 23, 23 have conduits 26, 26 for electric wires if desired.

The operation of the device is as follows: The ends of the two rails are introduced into the supporting shell 10 from opposite directions, and the lugs 21, 21 placed within the openings 22, 22 of the rail foot 13. The two binding members 23, 23 are then introduced between the rail and the supporting shell 10 from opposite ends, the large end of each binding member 23, 23 being first introduced. When the binding members 23, 23 are thus situated, the two binding members 24, 24 are introduced from opposite ends, small ends first. The members 23, 23 and 24, 24 are then driven home in order to make a firm binding connection between the rail and the rail supporting shell 10. The I binding members 23, 24, which may be somewhat longer than the side member 11 of the shell 10, are flared by means of blows to prevent their accidental disengagement or withdrawal. The spikes 16, 16, 16, 16 are then driven into the ties 17, 17 sufliciently to firmly engage the rail foot 13 and the bottom shell member 12, but allowing the longitudinal movement of the rail due to change of temperature. The spikes 19, 19 are then driven into the tie 20 sufiiciently to firmly hold the supporting shell 10,to said tie.

: nithe rnodi eatio Shaw in sthe upper edgesof the side members 11, 11 are inclined from end to end, in opposite dimotions to each other with respect to the base 12, andthe edges of the binding members 3ft, 3% abuttable thereon, are" similarly inclined. The upper edges of the side members are parallel to the rail web 25. l

In the modification shown in Figs. 5, 6, '7, 8 and 9, supporting shell 27 is comprised of thefsidememb'er 11 the base member 1:2,"and the side member 36. The side member is composed of the upwardly and inwardly inclined member 28 and the downwardlyinclined member 29, the upper portion 30 of tl ie side member being abuttable upon the under side of the rail head 1e, and the inclined 'member 29 being abuttable upon the side of the rail web 25. Integral with the inclined member 29 are studs 31, 3l,t-h' ese studs being capable of insertion within the holes 32, 82, of'the rail, and may bearranged to coincide with the holes ordinarily found in rails, intended for bolting to the ordinary fish plate. The upper edge 33 of the side member 11 is inclined with respectto the plane of the base l2'but is parallel to the rail web 25. The two wedgeshaped binding members 84: and 35 are capable of slidable introduction into the uniform. space between the railand the side member 11 and of bindingcontact therewith and with each other. The operation of this 49 9 hi retes PM h ewes f modification is as follows: The ends of the two rails are inserted into the supporting shell 27 from opposite ends, the space hetweenthe inner surfaces of the lugs 31, 31 andothe side member 11 being sufiiciently great to allow of the passage of the rail web 25past the lugs; the rail is then moved sidewise to allow the lugs 31, 31" to enter the holes '32, 32 and the rail abutted against the member 29, the binding member 34 is then inserted and'thebinding member 35 is then inserted and driven home,' 'the device thus holding the two rails'in firm position.

I do notlimit myself to the size, number, arrangement of parts as shown de scribed, all of which may be varied withoutout goingbe yond the scope of ijny invention as described and claimed.

A rail joint comprising in combination, a rail supporting base, the" sides of which ,eX- tend upwardly and inwardly, and are parallel to the webs or resting upon, the base and inclined to the plane of tlie'ibase, said sidesbeing spaced from the heads of the rails, a plurality of wedge-shaped members capable of longitudinal movement'between the rails andthe side members, saidiwedgeshaped members binding uponthe up'per edge of the side member, upon each other and upon the heads, webs and feet otthe rails preventing vertical and ztransverse movement of the rails and meansffor allowing a limited longitudinal movement of the rails uponthe base.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York tetee ew .Yerk t i da f Marchl9l7.

' ALEXANDRE COUTURE. I

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of @a'cents, washingtonfl). G. l 

